Membership Check In Or Be Purged (Completed)

[Steve Herschbach]

This forum has been running for ten years now. I have never done anything to weed the database down in all those years, and it is getting way too full of stuff that does not need to be there.

A big one is people who have registered over the years, but never posted. The so-called Lurkers. That's fine I guess but the reality is there is almost no reason to join the forum if you are not going to post. The content is free for anyone to view without an account, so you are free to lurk all you want, without taking up database space. The only area that is off limits to non-members is in the Downloads area, where I have limited the ability to download the large files to members only. I'm just trying to keep a lid on the bandwidth by keeping outside sites from linking directly to the resources there.

Long story short a quick review shows that fully half the members database is comprised of non-posting accounts, going back ten years. I am going to delete all those accounts before the end of the year, except any created in the last 90 days. If you have one of those accounts, and do not want it deleted, you need to make at least one post before the end of the year. This thread will work. Just post anything at all here, and your account will not get deleted. You only need to do this if you have never posted on this website before.

If any accounts are being held by spammers, it’s likely to be in this group, so it helps clean that up also. The end result will be invisible to current users, except that the site may get a tiny bit faster once I clear out all the deadwood. These people have never posted, so no actual content gets lost.

[klunker]

 

But will I still be able to download updates for my 7000?

Thanks again for keeping  D.P. the best one.

[AZ Jim]

Goodmorning Steve

[hawkeye]

Good idea Steve?

[RickUK]

Steve,i think you will find alot of detecting forums are identical to this one with Lurkers,Spammers can also be another big problem as well but as luck would have it this forum does not get many of those.

[Steve Herschbach]

23 minutes ago, RickUK said:

Steve,i think you will find alot of detecting forums are identical to this one with Lurkers,Spammers can also be another big problem as well but as luck would have it this forum does not get many of those.

We get lots of spammers, but they are blocked, and the few that get through…. Hugh and I have fun nuking them asap, so most people never see them. My thanks to members that use the report function when they see spam posts - it helps a lot.  But yeah, getting rid of these accounts does help with that, as spammers like to open sleeper accounts they can act on down the road.

[deathray]

I'm getting ready to post now man! I know I don't post much, but this is the only one I still go to. Great forum.

[dig4gold]

I considered myself a "lurker" for many years. But I never actually had an account & made no posts until last year. I have always appreciated your detector knowledge & your sharing of it Steve. Thanks for all you have done.

D4G

[GhostMiner]

   Well, I guess i'm safe for now. I've certaily got my share of posts here LOL. Best website ever.